


Walking Ink

by IdlePace



Series: Tattoo Parlour AU [1]
Category: The Yogscast
Genre: Alternate Universe - Tattoo Parlor, M/M, Tattoos, slight sexual content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-03
Updated: 2014-09-03
Packaged: 2018-02-16 01:03:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2250042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IdlePace/pseuds/IdlePace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rythian tries to get through a busy day of backed up clients but always has one particular distraction bothering him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Walking Ink

“Rythian!” A chipper voice cut above the sound of rushing water, “Your three o’clock just got here! You want me to send him in?”

Glancing up from the small counter space as the tap was shut off the man smiled at the red head. Her ever changing, colourful studs that dotted her ears and eyebrows accented her beaming smile. “Yeah Zoey, you can send them in. I just got done cleaning up.”

With a full nod Zoey dashed away from the doorframe, her sweet tones muffed but perking up over the low music that drifted throughout the parlour.

Giving his hands another quick wring from the frigid water Rythian flicked his hands in one smooth motion, grabbing at a roll of paper towel. With fast brushes of the cheap paper he tossed it in the nearby bin as he gradually made his way to his dented metal stool.

“Hey man!” The strong presence asserted within the words awoke Rythian from his quiet thoughts, pushing him to stand, “Haven’t seen you in a while!”

The smile Rythian gave back was an estranged greeting for the man who stood in his doorway, having a small misunderstood jagged past, “Ah, Strippin, take a seat.” He kindly gestured to the simple wooden chair next to him, putting aside this thoughts about times passed.

Strippin gave a tooth filled grin, taking his time to examine the reclinable chair in the center of the room before accepting the simple chair. His position relaxed instantly once he sat, feeling no fear for the boney, ink and metal covered man in front of him. The loose dull tank top let his eyes examine over the painted picture of a black as night dragon spouting acid green flames up his arm and the grain sized inscriptions that ran along his collar bone to continue its curved writing under his shirt. As Rythian stretched to his side to grab his notebook Strippin easily caught sight of the hilt of a deeply shaded sword that was etched into his hip and presumably trailed down his leg.

“First tattoo right?”

The velvety voice stopped the man from further curious stares, “Yeah, never could really decide what I wanted yeah? But now I am completely dead set.” His wide hand gestures flew with his excitement.

“Alright,” Rythian dipped the word, understanding the feeling, “Now this is your first of two consultations before the actual inking, so nothing I draw here has to be exactly what’s going on you.” Shuffling his charcoal pencil out from inside the coil in his sketch pad Rythian flipped swiftly through the filled pages. “This is going to be a rough draft kind of meeting okay?”

Landing on a clean page Rythian adjusted his position, readying the pad of paper on his knee, “How’s your pain tolerance?” He tried to small talk as he prepared his pencil.

With a full chest laugh Strippin flexed his arms, “I think I’ll be able to handle it!”

Rythian let out a breathy laugh, hearing quite a similar phrase from clients before. “Okay, so we won’t have any problem then…” Gripping softly to his sketch pad Rythian straightened his back, “Okay, so, explain to me what you want and why.”

Scratching the top of his head, evidently unprepared for the last half of the question, Strippin cleared his throat, “Well my brother Benji and me, we’ve been planning this business together since we were kids yeah? “

Rythian nodded with a minor curl at his lips, jotting down the small slip of information at the top of the page.

“And it’s actually happening now!” Strippin’s arms spread out again, his gestures becoming part of his story. “So I thought, what better way to show my commitment to it?”

Looking up from his noisy pen scratches Rythian raised an eyebrow, “What if the business fails? Will having this tattoo remind you of the failure if that happens?” With his abrupt input Rythian continued his scribbles.

Shaking his head with a smile on his face Strippin laughed, “Nah, never man. I’ll always see this as a reminder of my brother, even if the business flops.” His people pleasing smile drifted to a softer expression, his mind truly set on his idea.

Satisfied with the response Rythian nodded, “Okay,” Sharpening his pencil with a quick turn of his wrist and tossing the small plastic piece onto the counter Rythian stared back at the man, “Tell me what you’re picturing.”

Hoisting his shoulders high Strippin let his practically business pitch soar, “Years ago we thought like the logo of two crowbars crossing with the words ‘Rail Bros’ underneath it!” He crossed his own arms to demonstrate the picture.

With a low chuckle Rythian let his pencil quickly scratch along the page, “So, kind of like a knight crest of sorts?”

An enthusiastic nod and Strippin tried to peer over the paper to get a look, “Yeah, yeah! Knight crest sounds good!”

Rythian didn’t bother trying to pull away as he could feel the excitement radiate off of the other. “Okay, any other details you can tell me?” His rough drawing came off more as rushed lines than any forming scene.

“Well the colours were mostly like red and black-”

A cheesy knock tapped out on the doorframe, seizing the attention of the two engrossed men. While Rythian groaned Strippin jumped up from his seat, a set grin from ear to ear at the man who let himself in.

“Lalna! Long-time no see man!” Throwing a hand into the air his need for a high five was met, allowing him to pull the blonde into quick hug.

Letting out a stream of popping laughs Lalna pushed himself out of the crushing hold, “I didn’t know I would find you here Strippin! Been a while hasn’t it?” Placing a hand lazily on his hip he matched the tall man’s expression.

“Lalna, I’m working…” Rythian grumbled out, practically forgotten on the other side of the room.

Ignoring the menacing other Strippin threw an arm to Lalna’s shoulder, giving him a friendly shake, “What are you doing here? Do you have an appointment too?” His bearded jaw dropped in his full smile.

Slowly shrugging off the hand in all good faith Lalna flicked his chin, “I’m actually here to see mister grumpy over there,” The bellowing laugh Strippin gave allowed Lalna to slip across the small room, “You’ve been ignoring my texts…” He droned, drifting a hand to the back of the hunched figure who purposefully busied himself with the sketch.

“You didn’t answer my text about lunch,” Lalna’s pout was over exaggerated, “And you know what happens when you ignore me.” Lacing an arm under the tucked down chin Lalna cradled the head, slowly bringing it up to nestle his face into the fluffed up hair.

“I told you this morning I would probably have to skip out on lunch,” Without even acknowledging the affection Rythian continued his work, “We’ve been backed up on appointments these last few days. Guess you weren’t listening, like usual…” His gruff undertones did nothing to scare the blonde, the hands already pushing his head to sway back and forth.

Flicking his finger from the bottom of his lip to point at the pair Strippin held back another hearty laugh, “You two are together?”

Rythian answered with a grumble while Lalna merely smiled, leaning heavier on the man, “Three years and counting!” He sang even with his face still pushed deep into Rythian’s hair. Rubbing his nose back and forth in the dark locks Lalna could feel the other sigh loudly, but it still did not deter him.

With another supressed chuckle Strippin stepped closer to the two, eyeing back up his seat, “I think you two are the living definition of the odd couple.” He snickered again, setting himself back down and inching his stool away to give the pair room.

Finally pulling his face up from the now messed hair Lalna smiled widely, “Aren’t we just?” His hands trailed down to rub mischievously at the tan cheeks.

“Amazing I haven’t strangled him yet…” Rythian tried to tense the muscles in his face but gave in quickly as he knew the man wouldn’t stop.

“I don’t think you could ever bring yourself to do that,” Lalna’s devious smirk grew as he used both hands to hold the head still, “You wish you could quit me, but you can’t!” His body snapped melodramatically, overly amused by his own theatrics.

Another distasteful grumble of a comeback passed through Rythian, but he did nothing to stop the hands from directing his chin into the air, letting the blonde share a chaotic kiss. When Lalna tugged at the silver lip ring, stretching Rythian’s bottom lip farther than was comfortable, was when Rythian finally became psychical. His growl and shove at the man removed him with minimal ease, ignoring the complacent expression he knew the blonde wanted him to see.

Rythian decided it was best for him not to look at Strippin or address what had just happened in words, merely to continue with his sketch. He delightedly welcomed the quiet that settled into the room while he busied himself with his job at hand, only moderately put off as Lalna’s fingers found his shoulders.

“Stylistically, what are you picturing?” Rythian chose to ignore Lalna even as his hands slid under his shirt.

Titling his head back and forth Strippin pondered of his idea, “I’m not quite sure to tell the truth. Are there any limits?”

Holding his expression still as Lalna’s fingers continued their squeezing Rythian set his sketch pad to rest against his leg. “Well really, the only limit is space, which is another question. Where do you want this?” He thought about shrugging to push Lalna away but knew it would only encourage them man to try harder.

Patting the side of his large bicep Strippin grinned, “I want it here, so it can be like an old navy tattoo.” Setting his arm back down he tried to catch another glimpse at Rythian’s rough draft. “I do have a question about style and such though.”

Rythian didn’t bother to pick back up his sketchbook, “And what question is that?” He rolled his shoulders as Lalna pinched at his tendons.

“Do you have like,” Cycling his hands around in the air Strippin searched for the right words, “A past work book I can look from. To maybe, like help me get an idea?”

Answering with a content huff through his nose Rythian smirked, “Actually, I might have something even better.” Craning his head to look over his shoulder Rythian could feel Lalna’s eyes light up as his attention was back on him, “Lalna, since you’re here you might as well help out.”

Grabbing tightly to the shoulders Lalna rocked his body from side to side, “And what would you need me to do?” His grin was obvious through the tones in his voice.

Setting his head back in a comfortable position Rythian didn’t even worry about looking at the man as he gave his instruction: “Take off your shirt.”

Strippin’s head jerked back as a million thoughts surged through his mind, unsure about what was about to take place. Lalna animatedly clapped with a chuckle, “Yes sir!” His hands were at the hem of his simple band tee in an instant, pulling it up over his head and tossing it onto the small counter space.

As Lalna proudly sat his hands out into the air to give a full display, Strippin finally clicked in. The multitude of inked images all ranging in vast sizes and colours formed a collage along Lalna’s chest, fizzling out before his collar bone and shying away from his shoulders, but some dipped down past his hips. Strippin’s eyes strained to tell when one image stopped and another began as they all seemed to meld into one.

Twitching his fingers in the air Rythian signaled Lalna to step closer. His long fingers gently graced the middle of Lalna’s stomach, progressively tracing his fingertips higher up on the skin. “He’s been my human canvas for years,” Rythian almost broke into a smile as he looked over his past work, a swell of vanity swirling in him. “Though for some strange reason he prefers the name guinea pig.”

Lalna struggled to hold back a laugh as the fingers dragged around his sensitive skin, “Don’t squirm.” Rythian scolded as he continued to look over the tattoos. Even with the warning the man still shivered in place.

With a sigh Rythian looked back over to his client, “You have no idea how hard it was to get him to stay still sometimes.” He rolled his eyes as he heard Lalna chuckle to himself, “I debated on tying him down before but I’m afraid he would like that too much.” 

Lalna’s lewd sounding response was reason enough for Rythian to ignore the man, concentrating solely on the pictures that stained his body. His hands drew around the skin again, more determined than last to find a proper example. “We could go for something like this,” Rythian pointed a finger to one his earliest works, a bold lined Ankh symbol off to the side of Lalna’s ribs.

Watching for the change in Strippin’s expression Rythian could tell the man was unsure about the simplicity. “There needs to be colour, of course… then let’s try maybe something like this?” His hand slid along to land on a delicately detailed pentacle just under one of Lalna’s pectorals. “See the small inscriptions within the lines of it?”

Leaning in closer to the giggling middle Strippin stressed his eyes, “Oh yeah, I can kind of see it…” He rocked back in his seat, feeling faintly discomforted for having his face so close to Lalna’s chest.

“If you want to try something a little more unique we could focus on negative space, like here.” Rythian’s finger deliberately pushed harder into the skin as his drug his fingernail, landing just to the left of Lalna’s bellybutton. “See how the small cluster of atoms makes up the symbol?” Tracing his finger along to display the biohazard sign in a clearer light Rythian pushed back as Lalna continued his quiet laughs.

“I think I want more of a picture really, nothing fancy.” Strippin gripped at his chin as his eyes dratted around the display, looking for one to reference his idea.

Rythian nodded, “Alright, so probably small lines but big shapes and colour…” Carefully placing a hand on Lalna’s hip Rythian gave a light nudge, “Turn around for me sweetie.” He breathed calmly.

With a bright sound in the back of his throat Lalna slowly spun, “First time you called me that!” He expected the smack on the arm as he countered with his own pitiful swat back.

The blonde’s back matched his front, filled with bright tattoos strewn about, “This is probably what you’re looking for.” Rythian’s palm fell just below Lalna’s neck, the tips of his fingers drumming against the realistically inked scene. The painted in fluorescently green microchips mixed with sparking wires seemed to break out from under Lalna’s skin, practically peeling away the layers. “It would be around this sort of sense, less bright colours and more curved lines…”

While Rythian debated about his future artistic design Strippin patted the man on the back, “I like the sounds of this!” His energy transferred into his psychical assurance, accidentally pushing the man forward. “Thanks for the demonstration Lalna!”

With a cheeky smile Lalna turned back around, “I don’t mind at all,” He eyed back up Rythian who had latched onto his drawing pad, quickly making mental notes to himself and roughing out lines. “I got a few more on my legs if you want to see!” Lalna’s hands instantly went to his fly, zipping down the metallic teeth.

Without even looking up from his project Rythian pointed his pencil in Lalna’s direction, “Pants stay on Lalna.”

Sulking, Lalna did back up the fastening, mocking the commanding tone back to Strippin with silent flapping gums. The two men shared a laugh as Rythian continued with his work, ignoring the others as he fought to get all of his thoughts onto the paper before he forgot them. 

“Alright,” With a deep breath Rythian looked up from his project, “I can whip up something tonight or tomorrow and send you what I come up with. Remember, these are just rough drafts. We can add more detail in your second consultation.” He set aside his sketch on the small countertop, “Or if you want we can start completely over if you’re not happy with it. It’s all up to you. This is permanent so I want you to be happy with the final product.”

Strippin bolted up from his seat, “Sounds good to me! Man, I am so looking forward to this!”

A shrill whistle interrupted the closing scene, “Wow!” Lalna’s hands once again found Rythian’s head, “He’s giving you choices? Lucky you!” He allowed his achieved grip to sway the seated man from side to side, “For me it’s more of a sit down, shut up and don’t ask questions kind of situation.”

Rythian scoffed quietly even as hands rubbed softly under his chin, “Kind of sounds like our sex life doesn’t it?” The tall man turned his face away from the grip, huffing again at the purred words. “But I have to admit, it is quite enjoyable that way…”

Frantically waving his hands around in the air Strippin coughed loudly, “Too much information there!” Ducking his head as if to avoid any additional dirty details he took a full step back, “I’ll get out of here to give you two some alone time.”

Snapping his fingers he stood in the middle of the doorway Strippin grinned again, “Lalna, give me a call sometime, we should go out for some drinks and catch up!”

Lalna snapped his fingers back at the man while using Rythian’s hair as a pillow, “You got it!”

Both gave a slowly paced wave to the breaded man, watching him slip out of view leaving them in their awkward silence. Rythian hummed as he shuffled in his seat, feeling Lalna’s hands pet the sides of his head.

“I’ve been thinking of adding another piece to you,” Rythian could audibly hear Lalna’s lips curl, “I was thinking of a sigil, on the back of one of your thighs.”

Smoothing the side of his face down Rythian’s head, Lalna nipped a kiss on the studded ear, “That sounds like fun. I’m free tonight since someone doesn’t answer my texts…”


End file.
